It’s a simple process to understand. If you turn your thermostat up, your electric bill goes down. And if you turn your thermostat down, your electric bill, much to everyone’s dismay, goes up. We all want to save a little money. So what are the best times to turn the heat up without causing you to be uncomfortable in your own home? Here are our top five recommendations!

When You’re Out of the House

This is probably the absolute easiest on this list. If you’re out at work, the grocery store, or a friend’s house for a party, you can instantly set your thermostat up ten degrees. Why would your empty house need to be cooled? If you have a smart thermostat, you can program it from your phone so that it will be back to a cool state by the time you’re in the driveway.

When You’re Sleeping

For many people, a slightly warmer is barely noticeable when they sleep. In fact, your body temperature decreases while you’re asleep. You can turn up your thermostat up to four degrees warmer without you noticing a difference. And if you have a fan pointed directly at your bed, you can turn it up even more. You’ll wake up with a few extra dollars in your wallet.

When You’re Cooking

Ovens are a known source of heat. So if you’re cooking a large meal, or plan on being generally busy in the kitchen for a while, consider bumping up the temperature. You might not notice it much and you can always bring in an oscillating, standing fan to help out.

When the Door is Open

Everyone loves a backyard get together, but it can also mean the door is being open and closed repeatedly. Or if you’re having work done on an appliance, the technician may come and go from the house to the van often. If your door is going to open for a large chunk of time, you’re already losing cold air. Turn the temperature off to save you money

When the Fan Is On

oscillating standing fans and ceiling fans work wonders to cool your home. You probably wouldn’t be able to tell if your thermostat was set up a few degrees if you had a standing fan pointed directly at you. Why waste money on a couple degrees that you don’t need?

Any level of cooling will cost you money, but you can decrease the spending and all it takes is a couple clicks. Smart thermostats can show you charts and graphs to pinpoint exactly when you can save money, but any thermostat can be manually adjusted. So you have no excuse!

If you found this article helpful, share it on Facebook, Twitter, and more to pass it along to your friends. And if you know any other times of the day that you can afford to bump up the temp a bit, comment below!